BRE-240Z

Thanks, fellers. I've been dreading this little chore, as you can probably tell.....

Hi guys. I'm at the point in my restoration where I want to replace the (original) heater hoses with some new OEM hoses. I have the molded hoses from Nissan all ready to go on. I was looking at where the hoses come into the passenger compartment last night, and I'm wondering if there's enough room to get my hands up in there to the heater valve without removing the heater blower housing and motor, or if I'm going to have to start disassembling stuff under there.... If it does have to come out, what's involved? Just the four bolts to the firewall and the control cable, or is it more involved than that? I have a FSM and I should look at it, I know, but I'm at work and it's at home and I'm just trying to plan my evening.... Has anyone else done this recently? Any advice would be appreciated.

That should be interesting. I was reading an article the other day in Motor Trend Classic, and a sidebar said that the C3 Corvette was actually supposed to make its' debut in 1967 instead of 1968, but that they pushed it back a year so that they could remedy some problems with 'dangerous lift' and horrendous drag at high speeds. My first thought was 'Ah, so it wasn't just the S30! Other cars also wanted to go airborne!' -- ha. Thanks for the link.

Looks odd to me, too. My ID plate:

I'm kind of afraid to drive it without dropping the tank first.....

Okay, so I got dragged to the movies (by my wife and my three-year old) to see 'Happy Feet'. I'm standing in the lobby waiting for them, and I see a small vending machine over next to the video games. It has pictures of cars on it! There's nothing else to look at, so I wander over and take a look. Holy smokes, that car looks sort of like a 240Z....hey, it is! There are two of them in the series of 12, so I figure I've got a pretty good chance of getting one. I pop in my four quarters, and I hit it rich the first time....out pops the 'race prep 200ZG'. Here's what they look like (car #58, series #7): Tomica Capsule Cars They come in a little plastic capsule, and are enclosed in a small cardboard box with Japanese writing all over it. They apparently have the 'race prep' Z, with the G-nose setup and ZG flares, as well as a 'street' version, which is a dark maroon or maybe black car. No idea what the '200ZG' business is about, but the machine itself is labeled with that image and description, and the small paper insert inside the capsules says that as well. The small cardboard box that contains the toy is labeled '240ZG', however. Any of you guys who get dragged to the movies, don't despair...keep your eyes peeled, and maybe you'll come home with a new toy!

Good luck on the trip. Hopefully you'll have good weather and a great time. Be safe!

I agree with this one hundred percent. There is no value in discouraging someone who is trying to create good parts for our cars. Even if it's available at a high price, at least it will be available! This 'look at what he wants for those parts' finger-pointing is not restricted to our community, because I've seen it on other car forums as well. It is a fact that there is a significant cost in tooling up to create these parts, and that cost has to be borne initially by the people who are buying the items. If it's a small run of parts (which it almost certainly would be, given the size of our community), the price is going to be higher. If the parts are good, I will buy them.

HLS30, did your writeup ever get posted? If so, I missed it....

These 'rub strips' were very common add-ons. Mine were pop-riveted on....if you carefully drill out the centers of the rivets, the metal track can be removed easily from the side of the car. You'll have some small holes to fill, of course, but the car does look a lot better without that rub strip.

Thanks Jerry, I really appreciate it.

Jerry, thanks for the offer. I think dspillman has me covered, though. Thanks to everyone else for all of the suggestions and good advice!

You installed a brand new fuel pump? What kind? Stock mechanical, or a higher volume electric?

The best my Honda lawnmower has ever run has been on bad Z gas......

Randy, Excellent! Get that car into shape and I'll meet you up on the 'Tail of the Dragon'! That's about halfway between us..... Brian

I want a high horsepower to weight ratio, big brakes, and classic 'sports car' lines like the original Z had. Rear-wheel drive, with the driver towards the rear axle, and round (!!!) headlights. The only real problem that I have with the 350Z is that it looks like every other car on the road. The performance is fine. I just don't want to drive a car that looks like a doorstop.

I run a similar setup, and it works well.

I had a dogleg tranny (from a '78 200SX) in my 510. People in the 510 world like that transmission because 1) it's a five speed and 2) it bolts up without requiring that the driveshaft be shortened. Later I went to a ZX five-speed and it was a huge improvement....had to shorten the driveshaft to use it, but it was well worth it. Shorter throws are good!

Hi guys. I'm looking for a spare throttle rod (I guess that's what you'd call it) for my 240. This is the little rod that connects the accelerator pedal assembly to the rest of the throttle linkage, and it has a little ball and socket at each end. This is the piece that actually goes through the firewall and is covered by the throttle boot.... I was removing mine to replace the almost completely disentegrated original boot, and the plastic ball on the engine side of the rod snapped off in my hand.... If anyone has one, or knows of a decent place to source this little item, let me know?

The suspense is agonizing!

I haven't dropped mine yet, either. The previous owner told me that he had boiled out the tank and that it was in good shape, but that wouldn't be the first whopper he's told me..... I did drain the gas and it looked good, but you never can be too careful. So, I went ahead and bought a clean tank on eBay, and it's just waiting in the garage for the party to start....

Factory rebuilt alternators, direct from Nissan, are running $195 plus a $25 core charge (and that's for either the 60a or 70a model). This is the last quote I got from my contact at Lynchburg Nissan. Makes sense to me that 3.2L240Z would want more amperage, especially since he's not going to pay any extra for it. Who knows, he might have a big stereo and H4's and driving lights....

They sell one-man brake bleeders ($2.99?) at Harbor Freight that work on the same principle, and they work well. The advantage to the system that was described above, however, is that there is enough tubing to be able to see what you're doing! Just make sure that first pump is long enough to get fluid down into the container - this should be easy, since you can see what you're doing - or else you'll suck air back in when you let up off the pedal.

Have you drained the tank? It would be interesting to know what the fuel looked like. I would guess that there are some big flakes of rust/gunk/goop that are blocking the pickup tube inside the tank.

Those are some nice shots. I see that Vee-Dub is lifting its' rear inside wheel in the turns.....quite a bit of body roll in those things, huh?